It was fortune that led Strode Station Elementary School fourth-grader Alyssa Tuttle to victory Wednesday morning. Tuttle spelled the word to win the school’s spelling bee in the final round.

But, Tuttle said her victory didn’t come by luck or chance.

“I studied a lot every night,” she said. “Last night I was up past 9 studying.”

Tuttle, a student in Tonya Duncan’s class, narrowly beat her classmate, Rileigh Reed, after 15 rounds.

Tuttle and Reed will represent the school at the district-wide spelling bee later this year.

The bee started with 15 contestants — three from each of the school’s fourth grade classes, and it took eight rounds of spelling words like believe, contract and monkeys to get to the final two.

Tuttle and Reed competed in six final rounds before the first missed word.

Both said they were nervous during the contest.

“I was even sick,” Tuttle said.

Reed said she is excited for the district competition.

“I can’t wait to get to compete against other older kids in the other spelling bee,” she said.